Kumori the Tailless Beast
by Create-tion
Summary: After the war it is believed that all threats have been eliminated...until the Mist Village reveals that they've been hiding a very dark and dangerous secret. And now that secret has been kidnapped for what purpose they can't even imagine. They've asked for the help of the Leaf Village to try and offset the impending danger but can they stop it in time? M for later...
1. Secrets

_**So here's the deal. This story takes place in the Naruto Main Arc after the war. However, there will be some changes to the plot possibly major in the effect that the headcannon relationships may or may not be changed. I'm not propelling it so far in the future that Naruto is already the Hokage and that there are children involved. We are after the war, but before those things happen. So, I may later mess with the relationships or minor details. **_

_**I do not own any of the Naruto characters in any way shape or form. Thank you for reading! Tell me what you think!**_

Intonai felt the breath in her lungs rush out. Her lips tightened in a thin line as she fought the urge to suck in another breath. Her arm came up defensively but the blow wasn't a complete block. The nin hovering over her lorded her back into a wall raining another painful hit to her shoulder. There was a crunch. Itonai knew that she had to get out. She was blocked in. There had to be an opening. A scream bubbled up from behind the nin blocking her from her group and fear overrode her thinking. That scream was from a chunnin she was charged with training. It was a young boy that she'd grown rather attached to recently since they'd begun working with one another. Most would say that this was her weakness. As the ice flooded her veins her pupils became larger in reaction and her entire purpose became to redirect attention away from the kid. She rammed her body forward catching the man off guard before tearing a semnbon needle from her hip pouch. She slammed it into his neck and shoved him backwards. He fell to her side. Her eyes scanned the battle desperately searching for the members of her team. One by one she noticed that they were laying on the ground or fighting but being taken over. There were too many. The tightly secured black mask over her face felt like it was pressing in with a heat that would suffocate her. This couldn't happen. She couldn't lose them.

"_Intonai!" _the chunnin, Hannin, screamed to her left. _"Run! They're looking for you!_" he shouted cupping his hands over his mouth. Her attention snapped to his face. She saw the kid was beaten and bloody. There was a long slash over his side but it looked superficial with minimal blood. Relief flooded her.

"There you are." A voice appeared behind her. As she turned to intercept the blow that would come, she saw a flash of a man grab Hannin. He wrapped an arm around the boy's middle and put a kunai to his neck. It was a show for her to see. She went rigid as the blow slammed her sideways, across the jaw, and knocked her to the ground. She rolled trying to upright herself but it was too late. The man in front of her was already weaving the hand signs that would cast her sealing jutsu. Dark scrolling lines of seals began forming across her skin and spreading outward. She crunched in on herself and ground her teeth against one another trying not to scream. The signs burnt her skin searing it on contact. They had her. Their mission was a success. Her vision became blurred…she lost sight…but not before she heard Hannin scream one last time.

The Mizukage paced the floor to her office before taking a long hard glance across the table. She had been able to gather a small group from Konoha as aide to this emergency mission but it was tense. In the meeting she'd had to admit that even though they'd all had relations of peace after the way, that the Land Hidden in the Mist was still a liar. She balled her fists at her sides before sitting at the head of the table. It was hard to look the man known as Hatake, Kakashi in the eyes at this particular moment. Their entire treaty could be blown wide open. But the alternative…the alternative to _not _finding Intonai was simply unimaginable.

"So, you're telling me that your village had an unknown Jinchuriki?" Kakashi clarified raising his voice. Sasuke had only head him use this much deadly vibrato a handful of times. He glanced sideways at the old man noting his tense posture. This wasn't going well. Naruto stood up putting a hand on the table gripping it.

"No way. I would have known. There were no others. The beasts were all present inside of me." He spoke clearly. The Mizukage sighed shaking her head.

"Itonai's beast, Kumori, was created not born. You wouldn't have been able to summon it nor would he have been willing or able to assist in the battle." Kakashi raised one visible eyebrow.

"Come again?" his tone had become even icier. "Explain how you create a Jinchuriki…" Naruto's eyes trained on the woman harder, narrowing.

"It was a complicated process but done a long time ago. We bartered with Orochimaru to create a tailed beast. She was to be our weapon against Naruto if our villages ever came to what we feared at the time would be a Great War…"

"You made a monster…and stuffed it inside an innocent child?" Kakashi waited for the response after Sasuke spoke for the first time.

"Yes. Itonai was young, around eight, when we constructed the effort."

"And you hid this weapon during the war?" he snapped.

"We couldn't afford Madara getting ahold of this kind of power. We sealed Itonai underground and created strengthened barriers to hold and hide her."

"What is the power of this tailed beast?" Naruto asked leaning over the edge of the table. His eyes met hers.

"Kumori actually has no tails. He is a tailless beast that was created from pure spiritual energy extracted from a partial sample of another tailed beast." She sighed before continuing. "Although in your case the tails signify a presence of power, Kumori finds strength from inside of his host. He feeds from her anger, fear, and pain. He is made of shadows." She looked down at her hands.

"Do we have any clue who has captured Itonai now?" Kakashi huffed out rubbing the back of his neck.

"The report stated a newly forming organization known only as The Slate." She spread the filed across the table for the others to see.

"What is their purpose? Will they extract the beast from her?" Kakashi had begun to stand up causing Sasuke to follow suit.

"We don't know what their purpose is with her if not to use her strength." Her finger tapped a picture of a nin on a file on front of her. "This man, is believed to be the head of the Slate Organization."

"And who is he?"

"Itonai's former teammate." Sasuke felt Naruto stiffen from beside him. "His name was Batu. But I fear that that boy is long dead. The man he has become would willingly slaughter his friends and villagers."


	2. My Enemy is my Friend

_**Hey! I wanted to stop in and see what you guys thought of this one so far? If you could drop in a review or message me to tell me what you think of it, that would be great! I would really appreciate it! Thanks! **_

The Jinchuriki hadn't moved. Zetsu sat across from her in the darkness that cloaked them waiting. His orders had been to keep track of her, feed her if need be, and collect water for her to drink. He wasn't being ordered to babysit but it didn't feel much better. It had just been to his luck that after the war, his survival had still given him a job. Although working for the Slate Organization was an entirely different story than the Akatsuki. Nobody knew what these guys were planning and if he had to bet on it, he'd place his money on them having a more dangerous endgame. The man that had hired him was very dysfunctional and almost hysterical. There had been more than one occasion in which the man had flown off his rocker and escalated situations to a whole new level. Death was usually the outcome of all his plans. He glanced back at the girl laying in the dirt that he'd brought here to hide. He would kill her. That was a sure outcome, but for what and why, other than for her beast he didn't know.

He took a moment to walk over and nudge the girl's head with his toe. A small breath hovered from her lips and he knelt down. If she didn't wake up soon he would have to report back that she was damaged cargo. There would be a chance after so many days that she wouldn't wake up again. That wasn't so much his problem as it would be Batu's. Her seal and beast were different than those of the original Jinchuriki. Scrolling across the expanse of her back were the marks that contained the animal spirit within her. Komuri was restrained so tightly inside her in fact, that he would be willing to bet that the beast could actually control her physically if it wanted without her permission. The binding seal stretched around her ribs like a corset and stopped casing her stomach there just hovering close to her belly button. He'd only seen the seal in full because Batu had showed him in case it cracked or broke and he wasn't there to repair it. How the man even knew how to use a seal this complicated baffled him. Although, to his knowledge, it had been created by Orochimaru which meant it would be complicated in general.

Itonai felt her body begin to wake but the spot where the seal began at the base of her spine was pulling her down. Her consciousness was hard pressed to find a way to bubble to the surface and it became clear that Kumori wanted to talk. She hated the beast. She wanted nothing to do with him. He was mean and he was cruel but he wouldn't let her win this round. Her eyes fluttered behind their lids before she felt the snapping revulsion that meant she was being pulled down inside herself and to him. Without warning she suddenly found herself standing in front of the snarling mass of creature towering over her. He growled, black sludge dripping from his yellow teeth, lording over her. She put an arm up trying to avoid being hit with the slime but it wasn't very helpful. A mound the size of a boulder dripped to the ground beside her splashing on her feet. He stank of rot and decay. His fur was matted and chunked together in places as he moved a giant paw forward snapping at her, gnashing his teeth together.

"You have gotten us captured! Impudent child…" he snarled.

"I do not have time for this." She felt the anger rising deep within her stomach. The problem was, the angrier she got, the more powerful he became.

"You will be killed. They will extract me." He growled barking at her. His massive paw came down shaking the ground beside her. She didn't waver. Her eyes met his.

"They extract you and you die. We are not like other Biju." She snapped. "You have no physical presence outside my body." Her glare stayed on his.

"I will kill you myself." He warned putting his snout an inch from her face. She did not flinch. He had been like this since she was a child. The first few years of their union had literally been hell. Orochimaru had drugged her enough to keep her locked in a constant lack of physical awareness so that she was trapped like this with Kumori. Her psyche had almost come out untacked because the mental stress of suddenly being injected with a Biju created out of spirit energy was too immense. The way she was now had been shaped by their conversations and interactions. Kumori required a terse stance and being handled like a stubburn child with the wrath of a titan.

"Try me. If I die, you die with me. No one knows how to implant you into another host. Let me reiterate that the only people who knew your seal are dead." She reached forward putting a hand in the Wolf's fur gripping it, twisting it down to yank him to eye level.

"I'm warning you child…" he growled.

"I am going to wake up. You will release me. Now."

There was a painful popping like a bursting bubble within Itonai's head and a pressure released behind her eyes. She gasped.

Zetsu watched as the Jinchuriki jerked awake. Her eyes snapped open as she jolted upright shivering. Her back arched before she crunched over wrapping her arms around her stomach. She squeezed her eyes shut again and let out a small breath. He took a step back as she fought down the burning feeling that ruptured over her spine. She had to control herself and get a grip on her surroundings. Forcing her eyes open she scanned the area. Her eyes stopped on Zetsu. She neither moved now spoke awaiting a response from the man looming over her.

"Well, you're not going to try and run are you? That would be a problem for us both." He finally said after a long moment.

"Where am I?" she questioned.

"A place that you don't want to be." But it wasn't the man in front of her that spoke. A voice filtered down the cave from a man she knew well. That voice sent an impulse so strong through her body that she was in pure shock.

"Batu?" she whispered turning to face the friend she hadn't seen since he'd handed her over to Orochimaru for the sealing jutsu.


	3. Here for the Show

It wasn't until the shock had ebbed that Itonai was able to find the strength in her body to move. She quickly shoved herself to her feet and took a stance that was leveled. She would not look weak to him. Her eyes barely caught his. He had grown up so much; he was hardly the boy she remembered. He was a head taller than she was, thin, and lithe. Batu lifted his arms crossing them over his chest watching her. He wore a dark leather material vest with several strips of crisscrossing straps that held three swords against his back. A belted pouch hung from his hip where she assumed he kept kunai and other hand to hand weapons. His looser coal pants were stuffed into cuffed boots with shin guards. Although he was lithe, there were muscles formed behind banded two part arm guards strapped over his biceps and forearms. It made her nervous. She knew nothing of the friend that now stood in front of her. She quickly amended that statement in her head; he was no longer her friend.

"My my…" he started to come forward towards her. His one unchanged feature, his turquoise hair, hung about his shoulders swaying as he stepped. "haven't you become something. The village's perfect weapon." He stopped a few feet in front of her. He narrowed his honey eyes.

"What do you want?" she asked trying to understand what was going on.

"You already know what I have you for. If you don't, then you've become very stupid since we were children." She fought the urge to bite back with a snappy comment.

"What are you planning on doing with it?" Itonai took a step back glaring as he reached a hand forward as if to touch her face.

"Stay still." He said simply. There was an uneasy pressure that erupted into splicing pain at the base of her spine. Her seal throbbed like licks of flame splintering up her back. She ground her teeth together trying not to give him the satisfaction of hearing her scream. She was rooted to the ground now where he held her by the seal. She couldn't move. Her thoughts raced inadvertently like rapid fire. How had he learned the basics to her seal? When? He was not one of the original users. The only two who had ever contained her were dead…how?

"Get away from me." She said in an icy tone. His fingers brushed the edge of her jaw.

"Kumori will remember me. He will want me to use him. He will want freedom." He stated simply taking her chin between his thumb and finger. He pushed her jaw up angling her face at a level point where their eyes met.

"What do you need him for?" she whispered anger swirling there within her features.

"In good time I will make my intentions known. Until then, I think that you should take it easy. Stop worrying so much old friend." He smirked. Shadows crossed his face highlighting the darkness beneath his eyes. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days. There was a sense of madness hiding behind his iris's. Emotions of dark forces played within them and Itonai felt the sudden impression that her friend had changed very very much. He had been through something that had altered him forever and there would be no going back.

"What happened…" she asked her voice softer than she meant it. She couldn't help it. There was still an image of the young boy who'd ran through the village streets to catch the baker's cart for the first morning loaf before training. No matter how angry, or what he'd done by giving her to that man, she couldn't forget that person; that boy.

A hedged fleeting expression crossed his face before his grip on her chin became forced and painful. He jerked her forward and put his forehead against hers roughly with enough force to make her flinch.

His eyes were wild.

"I lost everything." He ground out in a quiet tone. He didn't blink. "I lost everything but I know how to get it all back." He shoved her back so suddenly releasing the seal that she fell hitting the ground.

"What did you lose?" she snapped glaring up at him. She cradled her arm against her chest from where she'd fallen on it.

"I lost my mother. My father. They took them because my mission to take you was classified. They killed them to keep me silent about it. They said they'd kill me too." Batu reached down to grab her front and yank her up but instincts fought back. She caught his arm and blocked it knocking it away. His nostrils flared.

"That's not my fault!" she replied hotly. "I had no choice! I didn't _ask _to be used as a weapon!" she spat out scrambling to get to her feet. Zetsu, for the first time, came forward.

"_IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!_" he screamed. As his eyes grew wider Zetsu stepped just to her side. His hand slid over her arm and he ever so slightly pulled her closer.

"Sir, I believe the Mizukage was looking to make a contact with you. I received intention from one of her higher ranking officials that she wanted to do business with you." He used a flippant tone as if the last thirty seconds had not happened.

Batu took a few ragged breathes before his pupils dilated relaxing enough that he could stand straighter. He nodded to Zetsu sighing.

"Very well. I will be going to confirm contact of our business. You make sure she doesn't go anywhere. If she makes a run, kill her." He said turning. Without another word, Batu disappeared from the mouth of the cave.

"You had better learn to hold your tongue." Zetsu glanced at her idly.

"You could explain to me what the hell happened to him." She retorted running a hand down her injured arm angrily. She sucked in a breath sitting down. Between her seal aching and her arm bleeding, she was in a foul mood. It had been so long since she'd seen Batu. How could so much go wrong for him in a short amount of time. Would the village really have executed his parents under the guise that he'd blab about her being created into a monster? A weapon? She pulled her knees up and laid her head against them. Nothing about this situation was safe. Nothing about this was going to go well.

From what she had seen, Batu had some serious underlying issues at this current moment. There had to be more to it than just losing his family. She believed strongly that this would have been a turning point, but there had to have been something else to have pushed him over the final edge. She racked her brain trying to think of word, any word, that she'd run across from the village that would have pointed to his downfall or spiral out of control but there was nothing that came to mind. It was then that the pertinent information he'd given her ran through her mind. _The Mizukage was looking to make contact with you…that she wanted to do business with you…_

Her head shot up and she turned to face Zetsu who was already looking away. Her eyes wide she got to her feet.

"The Mizukage sold me to him." She rushed out. Zetsu stopped raising an eyebrow turning back to face her.

"Continue…" he waited for her to go on.

"She…she set this up. She sold me to him to be used as a weapon. This was her intention the whole time…he won't extract Kumori." Her hands started to shake. "He'll give him control of my body."

"And then…" he prompted smirking as the girl put it all together.

"They'll unleash me on Konoha." Even before the words left her lips she felt the pain rip at her chest. She would be responsible for thousands of innocents people's lives. She would have no control. Once Kumori was given control of her body it could not be reversed by her. It would take the act of someone who could reverse her seal…Batu would be the only one that knew now. Unless…unless she could get it out of Kumori. If she could manage to wrangle it out of the beast, there would be a chance, albeit a small chance, that she could get it to someone else. It was her only hope. It was the new alliance formed ninja world's only hope. They wouldn't be able to survive an attack by Kumori…not even the allied forces could withstand this. She couldn't bare being set against the upcoming Hokage either. Kumori longed for a battle against the fox holder. It would be devastating.

"You're very smart. Too smart. Don't let him know that you've figured it out." Zetsu said sitting down on a stump like boulder. "You need to get some rest before he comes back. He isn't in a good mood." He said plainly.

"Why are you telling me to hide what I know? Shouldn't you be concerned that I know?" she asked confused.

"This time I'm just here for the show kid." He smirked.


	4. You Have to Make the Show

Sasuke didn't like the situation they were being placed into. The Mizukage had been unable to produce much more information about the girl they were now searching for. She'd made it seem like there hadn't been much information because the girl kept to herself and had nothing much to do with the village. He didn't believe that. He could believe that she probably didn't trust the kage after giving her to Orochimaru to make her into a weapon. What he didn't believe was that she'd hate the entire village for it. He'd never seen a Jinchuriki other than Gaara hate a village. However, even then, there had been evidence that he didn't like the people around him. He showed signs of his pain. This girl was an active member within the village and she'd even taken on a student. Someone who hated everyone around them wouldn't do that. He shifted his weight as they propelled through the trees. He thought back over their conversation trying to remember more details. The kage had said she was also temperate and constantly in a state of composure or blatant lack of emotion. This did make sense; the Biju fed off her anger, fear, and general emotions. If she wanted to keep him at bay she'd have to stay in a perpetual lifeless emotionless state. Perhaps the worst part of it, that didn't make sense, was why she'd called on the Leaf immediately for assistance. Why would they spill the secret…they had their own stealth unit. Any normal kage would try to cover this up and recapture the Jinchuriki before word leaked. She openly had brought it to their attention.

"Kakashi…" Sasuke said as they traveled. His former teacher, now comrade, glanced to him.

"Hmm?" was the only reponse.

"This doesn't feel right." They started to slow down as they approached the area they'd been looking for; a possible base for the Slate Organization.

"I know." He agreed stopping to rest on a branch beside Sasuke. "That's why I sent Naruto to a faux location."

"Oh." Sasuke had assumed there really had been another location to search with Shikamaru but he supposed it did make sense to keep Naruto safe if there was any suspicion here.

"Why keep it a secret for so long and then give it up?" Hatake nodded to Sasuke. "We are both thinking the same thing." They peered down at the mouth of a small cave. There were figures coming into view now walking out of it. A man with a girl's arm firmly in his grip exited. Sasuke raised an eyebrow realizing that he knew the male figure.

"Zetsu?" he breathed out his uneasiness growing ever more present. He now directly looked at Kakashi. "This cannot be good."

"It's a set up. But how I'm not yet sure." Hatake commented staying still watching.

Zetsu hauled Itonai out of the cave by her arm annoyed. He usually didn't find this emotion often but he was beginning to lose patience with her. His darker half was fed up with the near constant state of silence she'd been in since Batu had left. He shoved her slightly and released her arm. She stumbled but kept her balance before glaring back at him. She didn't trust a thing he was doing. He hadn't said a word, merely grabbed for her and taken her outside. The sun was blazing above causing her to squint her eyes in a very perturbed manner upwards at it. Of course, it had been days since she'd seen the sun. They'd kept her booted up inside this cave.

"Walk around. Use your legs." He told her annoyed.

"Why don't you make me." She retorted stiffly. But even though, she moved around the space freely bending and unbending her legs which were indeed rigid.

"You are intolerable." She glanced back at him sighing.

"Says the guy with split personality disorder." That earned her a glare. She seemed not to care. She reached an arm over behind her head taking in a deep gulp of air like she hadn't smelt something fresh in so long.

"He will want to move you soon. You should be prepared." She stopped stretching and leaned against a tree looking down at the ground thinking.

"You said you wanted to see the show." He nodded allowing her time to finish her thought.

"So, if I did run, would you really kill me like he ordered?" she took care before looking up to meet his face. He was silent for a long moment before tilting his head to the side smirking at her.

"What exactly are you proposing?" he questioned. Zetsu didn't move when she stood up straighter.

"You say I ran." Itonai ran hand through her hair nervously. Negotiations were so blunt.

"What do I get out of this?" here was the offer…

"The whole show. He wants me. No, he needs me for his plan to work. You want to see him pissed off? You want to see the show? You have to make it. Let me go. I promise you'll get a show." Zetsu thought a long moment.

"I want the body of the one who dies." He said simply. She made a face before realizing she had. Sighing, she tried to put her features back into a steeled expression.

"Fine." She replied.

"You should really have thought that one through a little more." He grinned darkly.

"I don't really care either way." She shrugged taking a deep breath.

"Now's the part where you disappear?" she only glanced in his direction once before nodding. She was gone. Kakashi and Sasuke had to act fast to even follow the trail she was leaving of slight beast chakra. It was intense. They'd have to fight to keep up. Sasuke sighed. This was going to be a long recovery mission. She was free…but they had to get her home.


End file.
